


when we were young

by iceprinceofbelair



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Gen, Hasetsu, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 14:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11382387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iceprinceofbelair/pseuds/iceprinceofbelair
Summary: Viktor is nine when his family take him to a Japanese hot spring on holiday.





	when we were young

Yuuri loves his family’s inn. It’s always bustling and busy and full of people from far away places who like to tell stories about where they’re from and where they’ve been. Yuuri loves to listen. There’s an old man who has been staying for a few weeks - he’s from Germany and Yuuri thinks he must be about a billion years old - and he tells Yuuri about the time he spent hiking through the Amazon rainforest with his research team and about all the cool animals he found.

Yuuri learns a lot of English by listening to travellers. He’s almost as comfortable with English as he is with Japanese by now. It helps him make friends. He likes playing with the children who come to visit but there haven’t been any for a while. It’s okay, Yuuri supposes. None of them have ever liked skating anyway so it’s not like they could ever be  _ best  _ friends or anything.

But today there is another family checking in and there’s a boy with them! At first, Yuuri thinks he’s a girl because his hair bobs around his neck but then the boy grins and sticks his hand out and introduces himself in English as Viktor and Yuuri decides that he likes him.

“I’m Yuuri!” He squeaks. “I’m five and a half!” 

Viktor grins. “I’m nine and a quarter,” he counters and Yuuri considers this carefully. Viktor isn’t much bigger than him even if he is older. And he seems nice.

“Are you staying at the inn too?” Viktor asks while his parents talk to Hiroko whose English isn’t  _ quite  _ as good as Yuuri’s but she still knows more words because she’s a grown up.

Yuuri shakes his head. “I live here,” he explains and points up at Hiroko. “That’s my mum.”

Viktor smiles even brighter but he doesn’t get a chance to say anything else before he’s bustled away by his father. Well, Yuuri thinks, he’ll get to see him again soon.

~

Viktor, as it turns out, is great. He likes jigsaws and plays hide and seek with Yuuri even though he complains that it’s unfair because Yuuri knows all the best spots. But the best thing about Viktor is that he hears Yuuri likes skating and immediately becomes one hundred times more talkative (somehow) and Yuuri is delighted. He takes Viktor to the Ice Castle and introduces him to Nishigori and Yuuko who don’t really speak any English at all but Yuuri does his best to translate. He’s not very good at it because he keeps getting his word orders mixed up but he gets the basics across. 

(Not bad at all for five and a half!)

Viktor skates divinely. It’s like he was born to be on the ice. Yuuri watches him and feels his heart swell three sizes just seeing how his blades cut delicately into the ice like he’s floating above it. And the best part? Viktor can do  _ jumps! _

Well, Viktor can do a salchow and a very wobbly toe loop but he can do  _ jumps  _ like  _ proper skaters  _ and Yuuri is absolutely in awe.

Yuuri feels a little silly when he shows Viktor his newly mastered snowplough stop but Viktor claps in delight.

“That’s great, Yuuri!” He laughs, eyes shining. “Shall I show you how to go backwards?”

By the end of the session, Yuuri has a very wet bum and cold fingers but, despite how many times he’d fallen, Viktor had been sweet and encouraging as he helped him to his feet and said, “One more time. I have a good feeling about this one.”

And he could skate backwards! Properly!

Once they’re off the ice, Yuuri throws his arms around Viktor and hugs him close. “Thank you, Vicchan,” he sighs and Viktor hugs him back.

“You could win the Olympics one day, Yuuri!” Viktor enthuses, drawing out Yuuri’s name like it’s a song. “I’ll cheer for you!”

Yuuri doesn’t say anything but part of him wants to skate with Viktor again.

~

Viktor’s family only stays for a week but Yuuri and Viktor become absolutely inseparable in that time. They eat together and play together and skate together. Viktor even tags along to Yuuri’s dance class and Minako is shocked to see the positive effect he has on her favourite pupil. Yuuri smiles through the whole class and he and Viktor talk in hushed whispers as they leave.

When the day finally comes for Viktor to leave, Yuuri cries. 

“I don’t want you to go,” he sobs into Viktor’s shoulder, feeling his mere five and a half years in the strength of his want. 

Viktor sighs and his red eyes show he’s been crying too. “I don’t want to go either. But I have to go back to Russia. But maybe I’ll see you at the Olympics some day?”

Yuuri hugs him. And then Viktor is gone and Yuuri picks at his food for three days before his appetite returns.

~

When Yuuri is twelve, he sits down with Yuuko to watch the Junior World Championships. They eat a lot of popcorn and discuss their opinions on the programs and squeal together when someone misses a jump. 

But then Viktor Nikiforov takes to the ice, long silver hair swept into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, black costume clinging to his lean body. Crystals cascade over his right shoulder and shimmer with every spin. Yuuri can’t take his eyes off him.

He looks so at home out there and it’s clear that he’s miles above his competition in terms of skill. He has a few stumbles and his lutz turns into a flutz but the sheer artistry of his program has Yuuri trembling.

_ I’ll see you at the Olympics.  _

Yuuri blinks. He’s reminded of the boy who stayed at the onsen for a week with beautiful silver hair who looked like he and the ice were made for each other.

_ Viktor Nikiforov,  _ he thinks.  _ I’ll see you on the podium. _

**Author's Note:**

> full disclosure, i wrote this in an hour and i'm aware that it's not as good as it could be but it was an exercise in stress release mostly and also i'm vain and want attention so~


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